December 07, 2013 (Hochfilzen, Austria) – The Ukrainian squad won the women’s 4x6km IBU World Cup relay in Hochfilzen today, while the men’s 7.5km event saw the Norwegians score the victory. The women’s Team USA bounded into a strong eighth place, followed by the Canadian squad in 11th. In the men’s event, Canada and the US finished ninth and 11th respectively. Calm winds made for good shooting after a winter storm dropped 30cm of fresh snow overnight.

Team Ukraine (l-r) Valj Semerenko, Juliya Dzhyma, Olena Pidhrushna, Vita Semerenko © Nordic Focus

Women
The Ukrainian team of Juliya Dzhyma, Olena Pidhrushna, Valj Semerenko, and Vita Semerenko came from behind to take World Cup gold in today’s race, while Belarus started strong, leading through the first exchange. Then Germany took over. The Ukranians were in the hunt and finally took over the lead during the third leg courtesy of Valj Semerenko. It was an exciting battle through the last exchange, with Ukraine followed closely by Russia. Germany and France were also chasing hard.

Olena Pidhrushna (Ukr) © Nordic Focus

Pidhrushna secured the victory with quick clean shooting, while Russia’s Olga Zaitseva (RUS) logged a penalty, allowing the Ukrainian biathlete to finish first with a 56.3s lead over second place, Germany. France finished third as Russia was shut out of the medals ending up fourth.

The USA’s Susan Dunklee, Sara Studebaker, Hannah Dreissigacker and Lanny Barnes battled to a strong 8th-place finish at 2:44.8 finish while the Canadian team of Rosanna Crawford, Megan Imrie, Megan Heinicke and Zina Kocher followed in 11th at 3:10.2.

Susan Dunklee (USA) © Nordic Focus

“Today was a really good race for me,” said Studebaker. “I was definitely motivated to have a good one after sitting out yesterday, and relays are always fun. I was psyched to shoot so well and this definitely feels like a step in the right direction personally after Ostersund. As a team, this is a great result. We were looking for some redemption after a tough day yesterday and I think we proved that we’re on our way back up!”

“It was a really fun relay today and a tough battle from start to finish,” added Barnes. “The girls did an awesome job setting me up for a fight in the top-10. It was nice to have a good result like this for the first relay especially after a disappointing day yesterday. I am excited about the possibility of our team improving on that result in the next relay. I am very proud of my teammates and happy with our result today.”

Men
The French squad led out the first round, but by the second exchange, Norway was already in the lead with a strong leg by veteran Ole Einar Björndalen, followed by Russia and Italy in second and third, respectively. Canada’s Jean-Philippe Le Guellec, Scott Perras, Brendan Green, and Nathan Smith chased the podium close in fourth.

Nathan Smith (CAN) © Nordic Focus

Clean shooting put Italy in the lead for the start the third leg, but it would not stand as Emil Hegle Svendsen (NOR) and Dmitry Malyshko (RUS) were now in charge and took over leaving the final exchange together.

The USA's Tim Burke leads Andreas Birnbacher (GER) during the second leg © US Biathlon/NordicFocus

Svendsen separated himself from his chasers to take the win, while Sweden moved up with a heroic effort from Carl Johan Bergman to take second, as Russia had to settle for third. Canada finished ninth, while the USA’s Lowell Bailey, Tim Burke, Jeremy Teela, Leif Nordgren finished 11th.

“On both the men’s and women’s sides we went shoulder to shoulder with international superstars and played the game on a new level so it should we can be with the best,” said Chris Lindsay, high-performance director, Biathlon Canada. “While the end results didn’t necessarily reflect the overall performance – I am unconcerned. The races today were another step towards the podium – and truly being an equal player in the fight for podiums every single World Cup.”

Burke is optimistic about the US team’s performance. “I think we can be really happy with how things went in the relay today. Of course we want to finish better than 11th place, but I think the fact the we were only 1:25 behind the leaders says a lot about our performance. With just a few less extra shots, we can be right in the mix for a podium finish,” said Burke.

Team Norway on the final men's podium © Nordic Focus

Results

Women 4x6km
1. Ukraine 1:13:09.2
2. Germany +56.3
3. France +1:00.8

8. USA +2:44.8
11. Canada +3:10.2

Full results here.

Men 4×7.5km
1. Norway 1:19:50.8
2. Sweden +19.3
3. Russia +21.1

9. Canada +1:22.4
11. USA +1:25.4

Full results here.